Photo Galleries

As of 3 p.m., power had been restored to all but 284 homes in Henderson County and all but 80 customers in Transylvania County.

With power returning to homes in Henderson County, the Red Cross shelter closed at 3 p.m. without any clients.

The First Baptist Church shelter was canceled before its doors opened at noon.

Thousands in Henderson County awoke without power Tuesday morning as temperatures dipped to -1 degrees, resetting the record books for Jan. 7 and prompting local shelters to open their doors.

The Hendersonville Rescue Mission, which offered a warm refuge to dozens of clients and nine extra patrons Monday night, lost power around 7 a.m. – a rare occurrence for the shelter which last saw an outage during Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

A generator, never before used and still in its packaging, was brought to the shelter's courtyard to generate enough electricity to power several space heaters in the mission's cafeteria. Clients huddled in the cafeteria Tuesday morning, enjoying a warm breakfast of grits, eggs and sausage prepared on the gas-powered stoves in the mission's darkened kitchen.

At 9:30 a.m. with rumors flying that it might take hours to restore the electricity, the Rev. Tim Jones said the mission was moving clients to its warehouse two blocks away on Seventh Avenue, where the electricity never faltered.

The mission had planned to open its new outreach center at its warehouse in February. Plans changed Tuesday when single-digit temperatures forced residents to take refuge at the center, where they were welcomed with heat and running water.

“We're going to take our soup and sandwiches (prepared in the mission's kitchen) and serve them today where there's power,” Jones said.

The Hendersonville Rescue Mission issued a “Code Grace” this weekend, opening its doors to everyone in need of a warm place to stay. The code goes into effect on any night when temperatures dip below freezing, but with highs not expected to even reach freezing on Tuesday, people were encouraged to stay inside for warmth.

“We try to keep people safe. All you can do is try and give them the opportunity to stay safe and warm,” said the Rev. Anthony McMinn, executive director of the mission. “When we go Code Grace, we're going to do whatever we can to help you stay safe and keep you in a place where you can survive.”

Prolonged exposures to below-freezing temperatures can lead to frostbite and hypothermia.

Henderson County has activated two shelters due to the countywide power outages and below freezing temperatures. Personnel were in place to open emergency shelters at the American Red Cross, 203 Second Ave. E., at 10 a.m. and the First Baptist Church of Hendersonville at 312 Fifth Ave. W. at noon.

Residents needing shelter can contact the American Red Cross at 828-693-5605 or the church at 828-693-3493.

Bitterly cold

Thousands awoke to darkened homes in Edneyville, Hendersonville and the Crab Creek areas of Henderson County, where temperatures reached -1 around 6 a.m.

Doug Outlaw, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Greer, S.C., said that the frigid low broke the 1879 record low of 3 degrees. Meteorologists started recording temperatures in 1869.

The thermometer registered -8 degrees when Phyllis Smith, public relations director at Carolina Village, left her Fairview home Tuesday morning.

Ice formed inside the windows of a greenhouse at Bullington Gardens. The interior temperature of the greenhouse, designed to trap warm air, bobbed around 25 degrees as John Murphy, the gardens director, hurried to transfer plants into a warmer locale.

Gauges registered a low of -24 degrees on Mount Mitchell and -18 on Beech Mountain, where the windchill made the frigid air feel even colder, according to Outlaw. In Henderson County, the blustery 23 mph northwest winds, which gusted up to 27 mph, made the air feel more like -29 degrees.

“We're not going to get anywhere close to freezing (today),” Outlaw said of the projected high temperature. The Henderson County area was expected to reach a frosty 20 degrees; Asheville, a high of 16 degrees.

“The last time that we got down into this range of temperatures for Western North Carolina was in 1996,” Outlaw said. These are “the coldest temperatures we've had in quite a while.”

Outages

People were cranking up their heaters Tuesday, sparking a surge in demand for electricity not seen in years and stressing a system already strained by the record lows.

Duke Energy spokesman Lee Freedman said that the company is asking customers who have power to conserve as much as they can for the next 24 hours to help reduce the strain on the system.

Duke Energy reported 7,529 customers without power in Henderson County around 7 a.m. By 10:15, the outages had risen to 7,662. Some Henderson County schools were without electricity, forcing school officials to cancel classes across the county.

In Transylvania County, where schools opened on a two-hour delay, outages had dropped from 3,208 at 7 a.m. to 2,689 at 10:15 a.m.

“What we're experiencing throughout the system is general system failure,” Freedman said. “It's kind of similar to anybody who went out this morning to try and start their car.”

Freedman said the reason for system failures cannot be attributed to one factor.

“There's not one culprit. It could be a variety of things because not all of our equipment is identical,” he said. “It depends on the type of equipment, the age of the equipment, the conditions of where the equipment is located — whether it's above ground, underground or on top of a pole.”

Power outages were on the mend by 11:30 a.m.

“Things are starting to come around,” Henderson County Fire Marshal Wally Hollis said. “In the last hour, we've gone from 7,600 outages to 4,700. We're headed in the right direction.”

A majority of the county's outages were reported in Edneyville, where a transmission line that feeds the substation failed, he said. A couple of downed trees in the county had waylaid power to other homes.

“If we can clear this up before dark, we'll be in good shape,” Hollis said.

<p><b>UPDATE:</b></p><p>As of 3 p.m., power had been restored to all but 284 homes in Henderson County and all but 80 customers in Transylvania County.</p><p>With power returning to homes in Henderson County, the Red Cross shelter closed at 3 p.m. without any clients.</p><p>The First Baptist Church shelter was canceled before its doors opened at noon.</p><p>Thousands in Henderson County awoke without power Tuesday morning as temperatures dipped to -1 degrees, resetting the record books for Jan. 7 and prompting local shelters to open their doors.</p><p>The Hendersonville Rescue Mission, which offered a warm refuge to dozens of clients and nine extra patrons Monday night, lost power around 7 a.m. – a rare occurrence for the shelter which last saw an outage during Hurricane Ivan in 2004. </p><p>A generator, never before used and still in its packaging, was brought to the shelter's courtyard to generate enough electricity to power several space heaters in the mission's cafeteria. Clients huddled in the cafeteria Tuesday morning, enjoying a warm breakfast of grits, eggs and sausage prepared on the gas-powered stoves in the mission's darkened kitchen.</p><p>At 9:30 a.m. with rumors flying that it might take hours to restore the electricity, the Rev. Tim Jones said the mission was moving clients to its warehouse two blocks away on Seventh Avenue, where the electricity never faltered.</p><p>The mission had planned to open its new outreach center at its warehouse in February. Plans changed Tuesday when single-digit temperatures forced residents to take refuge at the center, where they were welcomed with heat and running water. </p><p>“We're going to take our soup and sandwiches (prepared in the mission's kitchen) and serve them today where there's power,” Jones said.</p><p>The Hendersonville Rescue Mission issued a “Code Grace” this weekend, opening its doors to everyone in need of a warm place to stay. The code goes into effect on any night when temperatures dip below freezing, but with highs not expected to even reach freezing on Tuesday, people were encouraged to stay inside for warmth.</p><p>“We try to keep people safe. All you can do is try and give them the opportunity to stay safe and warm,” said the Rev. Anthony McMinn, executive director of the mission. “When we go Code Grace, we're going to do whatever we can to help you stay safe and keep you in a place where you can survive.”</p><p>Prolonged exposures to below-freezing temperatures can lead to frostbite and hypothermia.</p><p>Henderson County has activated two shelters due to the countywide power outages and below freezing temperatures. Personnel were in place to open emergency shelters at the American Red Cross, 203 Second Ave. E., at 10 a.m. and the First Baptist Church of Hendersonville at 312 Fifth Ave. W. at noon.</p><p>Residents needing shelter can contact the American Red Cross at 828-693-5605 or the church at 828-693-3493.</p><p><b>Bitterly cold</b></p><p>Thousands awoke to darkened homes in Edneyville, Hendersonville and the Crab Creek areas of Henderson County, where temperatures reached -1 around 6 a.m.</p><p>Doug Outlaw, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Greer, S.C., said that the frigid low broke the 1879 record low of 3 degrees. Meteorologists started recording temperatures in 1869. </p><p>The thermometer registered -8 degrees when Phyllis Smith, public relations director at Carolina Village, left her Fairview home Tuesday morning. </p><p>Ice formed inside the windows of a greenhouse at Bullington Gardens. The interior temperature of the greenhouse, designed to trap warm air, bobbed around 25 degrees as John Murphy, the gardens director, hurried to transfer plants into a warmer locale.</p><p>Gauges registered a low of -24 degrees on Mount Mitchell and -18 on Beech Mountain, where the windchill made the frigid air feel even colder, according to Outlaw. In Henderson County, the blustery 23 mph northwest winds, which gusted up to 27 mph, made the air feel more like -29 degrees.</p><p>“We're not going to get anywhere close to freezing (today),” Outlaw said of the projected high temperature. The Henderson County area was expected to reach a frosty 20 degrees; Asheville, a high of 16 degrees.</p><p>“The last time that we got down into this range of temperatures for Western North Carolina was in 1996,” Outlaw said. These are “the coldest temperatures we've had in quite a while.”</p><p><b>Outages</b></p><p>People were cranking up their heaters Tuesday, sparking a surge in demand for electricity not seen in years and stressing a system already strained by the record lows. </p><p>Duke Energy spokesman Lee Freedman said that the company is asking customers who have power to conserve as much as they can for the next 24 hours to help reduce the strain on the system. </p><p>Duke Energy reported 7,529 customers without power in Henderson County around 7 a.m. By 10:15, the outages had risen to 7,662. Some Henderson County schools were without electricity, forcing school officials to cancel classes across the county.</p><p>In Transylvania County, where schools opened on a two-hour delay, outages had dropped from 3,208 at 7 a.m. to 2,689 at 10:15 a.m.</p><p>“What we're experiencing throughout the system is general system failure,” Freedman said. “It's kind of similar to anybody who went out this morning to try and start their car.”</p><p>Freedman said the reason for system failures cannot be attributed to one factor.</p><p>“There's not one culprit. It could be a variety of things because not all of our equipment is identical,” he said. “It depends on the type of equipment, the age of the equipment, the conditions of where the equipment is located — whether it's above ground, underground or on top of a pole.”</p><p>Power outages were on the mend by 11:30 a.m.</p><p>“Things are starting to come around,” Henderson County Fire Marshal Wally Hollis said. “In the last hour, we've gone from 7,600 outages to 4,700. We're headed in the right direction.”</p><p>A majority of the county's outages were reported in Edneyville, where a transmission line that feeds the substation failed, he said. A couple of downed trees in the county had waylaid power to other homes.</p><p>“If we can clear this up before dark, we'll be in good shape,” Hollis said.</p><p><i>Online Editor Caitlin Byrd contributed to this report.</i></p><p>Reach Weaver at Emily.weaver@blueridgenow.com or 828-694-7867.</p>